1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, an ink-jet printer.
2. Related Art
An ink-jet printer, which is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus, performs printing by supplying ink (liquid) contained in a liquid supply source to a liquid ejecting unit through a supply passage and by ejecting the ink from nozzles of the liquid ejecting unit onto a medium.
Some known printers are provided with a filter for trapping a foreign object, for example, a precipitate out of ink or air bubbles, and perform filter maintenance when it is clogged. An example of such a printer is disclosed in JP-A-2005-131906. That is, such a printer reduces the clogging of a filter by causing ink to flow in the reverse direction from the nozzle side toward the liquid-supply-source side.
Due to the backflow of ink, air enters the liquid ejecting unit through the nozzles. For this reason, when the inside of the liquid ejecting unit and the supply passage is refilled with ink, it is necessary to perform the ink-filling operation while discharging the ink from the nozzles, resulting in wasteful ink consumption.
The problem described above is not limited to a printer that performs filter maintenance. The same problem arises in a liquid ejecting apparatus that performs filter maintenance.